No Skilled IT Worker Shortage in USA

Let me start out by saying that I have no issues with outsourcing, near-shoring, or off-shoring IT work per se.  That is a decision that a business should make based on their organizational goals and objectives. I do believe that organizations that outsource need to think through the options and the process in greater detail.  A key aspect that seems to be overlooked is how outsourcing could negatively impact organizational knowledge and the value networks needed to sustain competitiveness.  The decision needs to be more than just a cost saving exercise, it needs to be evaluated strategically.

What I take exception to is the myth that there is a shortage of skilled IT people in the USA.  I don't buy that argument, which is typically based on anecdotal evidence provided by some IT industry luminary or lobbyist.  I came across a Baseline Magazine article - Is There Really An IT Labor Shortage -  that presents data from studies by Professor Vivek Wadhwa at Duke University.  This information provides data that contradicts what we hear on a daily basis.

What KM isn't

I was just reading a some forum posts on a well known business focused social web site about KM.  The topic was around web/enterprise 2.0 and KM.  A valid and relevant topic.  There were a couple of posts where supposed KM experts postulated that KM was all about documents and search. Wrong answer.

True Knowledge Management has never been about documents and search.  Knowledge Management has always been about Connectedness.  If "experts" have been doing KM as documents and search, they haven't been practitioners of Knowledge Management.

See the KM News definition of KM for my thinking...

Visualize Value

I recommend you take a look at the PDF from a talk Verna Allee gave at the USC Marshall School.  Verna will be presenting at VNA Workshop: Optimizing Business Performance.

What VNA discovers:

• How the work actually gets done


• The kind of value you are really creating


• How efficiently your organization (and the network it supports) converts resources (inputs) to valueoutputs (value conversion).


• Where the value creation failure points are in the network (problem flow paths and roles)

VNA Workshop: Optimizing Business Performance

You can find more details here or register at www.vnclusters.com.

Value Network Analysis Workshop:
Leading Network Intelligence
Thursday 11 December 2008
8:00am - 4:30pm
Davidson Conference Center
3415 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, California 90007 USA

Nothing to fear

Many of us around the world are confronting the harsh reality of economic uncertainty.  In many respects fear has eclipsed rational thinking and created a reality not wholly based on fact - perception became reality.  Fear has replaced rational thought.

 

This article from bizjournals brought me back to reality.  I (we) can't use coping behaviours that play into the fear and self doubt, but need to focus on what I (we) can control.  Now more than ever we need to leverage our individual and collective knowledge.

 

The author details five behaviours that hit home with me:

 

Stay grounded

Lead with compassion

Maintain a realistic optimism

Support each other

Go with the energy

 

 

CTS 2009

The 2009 International Symposium on Collaborative Technologies and Systems.  The Westin Baltimore Washington International Airport Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

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